


A Bit Late

by CeruleanTea



Series: Miraculous [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Moving On, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-08-23 01:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16608869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeruleanTea/pseuds/CeruleanTea
Summary: After the ice rink, Adrien began to realize a few things.





	A Bit Late

**Author's Note:**

> Had to republish because I forgot to fix the upload date, whoops.

Adrien didn't know he was so deep in thought until a rough poke to the chest made him jump back. He blinked his daydreaming away to see a red guards helmet get pulled up, revealing hard brown eyes. 

"You don't daydream." She commented, her eyes seemed to stare into his soul, making his uneasiness grow. "What is it?" Adrien frowned and turned his head to the side, of course Kagami doesn't see his expression. 

Taking a glance to Kagami one more time, he shook it off. He doesn't want Kagami pulling anything else like last time.

_"The only reason why you can't stand on your feet, is because you hesitate. I **never** hesitate."_

He would've done the Adrian thing and brush it off, but just a few seconds later, he saw Marinette walking off; a frown painted on her lips, her blue eyes full of emotion like the sea, her eyebrows knitted together in a hidden hurt. He couldn't ignore it now.

Luckily, Marinette began feeling better. She even invited him to go skating again, but this time with Alya and Nino, and  _no_ Luka. Not that he has any issues against Luka, he just feels strange around him, and not in any romantic way. A way he isn't too sure of.

"It's nothing." Adrien told the fencer, obviously knowing it's not going to convince her. She bluenette didn't respond at first, but she slipped down her helmet and regained her stance. Adrian swallowed back a sigh, hesitantly putting up his own weapon.

* * *

Adrien zipped up his fencing back, his mind slowly trailing back to familiarly warm and welcoming Bluebell eyes, minus a red and black mask. He must seem like an obsessed idiot, his mind constantly trailing over to his friend. But the more he puts actual thinking into it, maybe he's just confused about how he feels.

A large shock of pain shot through his arm making him yelp and clamp a hand over the pained place. He looked over, his eyebrows furrowed in an irritated manner, his lip flicked up. "What was that for?" He harshly asked, watching as the small black cat flew up in front of his face. "I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes. You looked like pig-tail girl." Adrien's face gently fell into confusion, his eyebrow quirked up as his lip pouted out slightly. "Pigtail girl?"

"Marinette." Plagg responded plainly, if Adrien wasn't so oblivious, he would be able to tell that his Kwami was just about done with his idiocy.

Adrien dropped his hand from where Plagg bit him. "What do you mean?" He got an annoyed sigh in response, but his Kwami didn't say anything, most likely trying to figure out what to exactly say. It's not like Plagg can bring up the starstruck look the girl had whenever she looked at his holder, Adrien would reject the idea and say it must've been something else.

"You know how Marinette gets in deep thought sometimes?" Plagg finally responded, making Adrien give a small hum and glance to the side, trying to recall anything like that.

There were many times during lunch he saw her biting her tongue trying to fix a small design, or how she sticks her tongue out during chemistry, sometimes she bit the end of her pencil in history. In art class, she stared out the window in such a peaceful way, he isn't even sure if she's focused on thinking or just daydreaming about a life she wished she had. During the times she wasn't silent or stammering around him, she would go on, and on about Jagged Stone or even designers she looks up to, or talks about her own designs, he noted how Ladybug has the same bluebell blue eyes, the same beautiful eyelashes that made her eyes pop, how those eyes shined and sparkled in a similar way Ladybug's did whenever she went along with his jokes.

Adrien forgot what they were talking about. He got so caught up about thinking over Marinette's habits that he forgot the reason why they were talking about this. But then he feared that they weren't even remotely talking about her and his mind wondered back over to her without his consent.

"What.. were we talking about?" Plagg gave a long, dragged, hopeless sigh. "Marinette." He felt like a weight was taken off of his shoulders. They were talking about Marinette, her thinking habits, right? 

"I think so, yeah." Adrien glanced off to the side, ignoring how Plagg gave him a questioning look. Plagg brushed off the unfocused response and continued on. "You had the same look she normally has." Adrien rolled his lips under his teeth. But then his eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know the look she normally has?"

The air felt more tense after the question, Adrien could even feel it. 

Plagg's green eyes glanced around the locker room, trying to form some kind of excuse. "We-well.. you.. you're always with her! Even I can pick up those habits." Adrien pursed his lips, but gave a small nod, to which let Plagg give out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Sometimes, I wonder if you really love Ladybug." Plagg spoke up, making Adrien look at him like he was crazy. But for heaven's sake, he's talking to some weird flying cat creature that's millions of years old. "It's just, you hold Ladybug on some pedestal without knowing who she truly is. Maybe you just greatly admire her and like the idea of her rather than loving her." 

"If you only have Ladybug in your mind, then you'll miss out on another amazing girl."

Adrien glanced down at his response. Maybe he is confusing love for admiration. Maybe he's confusing "just a friend" for love. But what is he to know? For years he grew up motherless and (pretty much) fatherless. His father grew cold, and an ice formed around his heart, not even letting his son in. 

Ladybug is brave, she is intelligent and flexible like a cat, she's strong and strong-willed. Marinette is sweet, she's creative and intelligent. She goes to the ends of the Earth for her friends, even if it means sacrificing everything she loves. She cherishes her family and friends more than anything. Sometimes, she messes up her speech and trips on nothing. He finds them both lovable. 

"Do you have any Camembert? I'm hungry." 

Adrien gave a playful glare off to the side towards his Kwami, but sighed and told him he can have as much cheese he wants. The blond picked up his bag and threw the strap onto his shoulder and moved his hands to his pockets as he exited the locker room.

Plagg is right, maybe instead of seeing only red and black,

His hand wrapped around something hard and plastic and then pulled it out from his pocket. A smile tug from the corner of his mother seeing the charm he was given.

He should see blue and pink.

* * *

Patrol last night seemed different to him. Whenever he glanced over to Ladybug, she constantly reminded him of Marinette, not the other way around. The bluebell eyes he always saw reminded him of determination, but now they remind him of sweetness and uneasiness.

The dark blue pigtailed hair reminds him of how crazy the other girls hair looked during the morning. Whenever someone pointed it out, her face flushed so greatly it practically screamed for her.

The red made his gut twist, and his eyes wanted to see it as pink.

It made him dart his eyes away and feel shameful that his face began to slowly heat up. 

His heart used to beat for bugs, and his mind ran on red. Now his heart yearns for designs and his mind is blinded by pink.

He was estatic to see Marinette again. he wanted to see her. He needed to see her. Plagg began teasing him about his "new reformed love" for the rising designer.

He wanted to hear her stammer her words and try her best to form a sentence. He wanted to see those bluebell eyes widen whenever he complimented her on her talents, he wanted the snow like skin to flourish in a beautiful dusty pink.

He wanted to hear her say that she likes- loves him too.

It took a lot of digging (or in terms he refuses to say, bribing) to get Nino and Alya to admit that Marinette was over the moon for him. Although, Nino mumbled saying that even a cat could tell she loves him. That earned him an elbow to the gut from Alya. 

He decided he was going to confess in a few days.

* * *

Adrien isn't so sure on how to feel at the exact moment. 

He (now) knows that Marinette likes him, it was the reason of her stammering, the reason of her flushed face, it explained everything.

So why isn't she stammering like she usually does..?


End file.
